Tag Archives: Workforce

From Royal Encounters to Red Cross Shelters 

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Not every British Red Crosser can say they met the queen of England, but Marco Couch is one of the lucky ones! 

Marco doing mobile communications for the British Red Cross 

Marco joined the British Red Cross in the UK after graduating high school to keep himself busy during the summer. Little did he know it would set him on a path of volunteerism for 17 years that would eventually lead to his current job at the American Red Cross in California.  

In England, Marco volunteered at large festivals and concerts all over the country doing operational radio communications in control rooms, coordinating the Red Cross first aid response. When people at the events got sick or injured, he would dispatch emergency responders to the scene.  

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Lyra Kelly: Just Trying to be Helpful through the American Red Cross 

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Lyra Kelly demonstrates the versatile ways volunteers can help people following a disaster. Although she has management experience, here she is driving a forklift in order to get supplies delivered to families in need. (Photo courtesy of Lyra Kelly) 

I first met Lyra Kelly when we were both deployed (aka sent out to a disaster response operation) to help people severely affected by the Spring 2025 tornadoes in St. Louis. Well-organized and skilled in the proprietary programs of the American Red Cross, she was the Operations Management Supervisor, responsible for organizing all of us volunteers—some of whom were supporting people in shelters, some assigned to hotels—as well as the logistics of delivering food, fulfilling supply orders and transporting volunteers to their duties across the disaster area.  

Little did I know how incredibly experienced she was. 

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